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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Mavis Gallant Book Ousted from Canada Reads

Mavis Gallant, widely considered to be one of the best fiction writers to emerge from Canada, has been kicked off the island. Well, not really. Her short story collection The Fifteenth District was voted off the Canada Reads list, though. Read about it below.

from CBC.ca Arts

Five contenders were reduced to four on Canada Reads Wednesday morning, with actor Zaib Shaikh providing the killing blow.

The first elimination vote began the broadcast of CBC Radio's annual book battle and appeared headed for an impasse, with the participating celebrity champions each picking a different title to dump.

However, Shaikh ended a four-way tie by adding his vote to that of musician and writer Dave Bidini against Mavis Gallant's From the 15th District.

After literally crying out at the decision, author Lisa Moore, who had advocated Gallant's book, asked her fellow panellists, "But don't you think this is the best writing?"